... recall order includes return of family including wife allegedly beaten in the incident
Doesn't look real good from our perch.
This news has been in the UK and Indian news cycle for the last couple of weeks. A senior Indian diplomat assigned to the UK was accused of hitting his wife. The neighbors reportedly called the police but no arrest was made as the diplomat claimed diplomatic immunity. More below:
On January 16/ New Delhi/London, IANS reported:
India's chief trade diplomat in Britain Anil Verma is being transferred back after the external affairs ministry decided that allegations of him beating his wife were 'causing embarrassment' and hurting the image of the country.
'The (external affairs) ministry has taken a serious view of the allegations, which are causing embarrassment to the country,' a source in the external affair ministry said in New Delhi.
Verma, the third senior-most Indian diplomat and minister (economic) at India's high commission, had reportedly sought immunity from prosecution after being questioned by British police over claims that he assaulted his wife in December last year.
[...]
According to a media report Sunday, Verma's wife has gone into hiding with the couple's five-year-old son, fearing for her safety. Paromita Verma was quoted as saying she is living in fear of her life and has applied for leave to remain in Britain on humanitarian grounds, the Daily Mail reported.
Paromita is now separated from her husband after moving out of their home amid fears that she would be forcibly taken back to India. Verma is alleged to have attacked his wife after a heated argument. Officers questioned Verma but were powerless to arrest him because of his diplomatic status.
Read more here and here.
On January 17, Telegraph India reported:
Verma’s colleagues appear sad that “a first class officer” is being recalled but admit they don’t know what was happening inside his marriage.
“Upper class Indian women have money and can walk out; working class women hit back; it’s middle class women who are still vulnerable,” a professional Indian woman commented.
One suggestion is the conflict should be resolved in a court of law in India. The British view is Verma has a case to answer.
At the request of the police, the foreign office had urged the Indian high commission to waive Verma’s diplomatic immunity so that he could be questioned further. “In addition, foreign office officials met high commission officials in London, while British diplomats in Delhi held talks with the external affairs ministry,” said a foreign office spokesperson.
A source in Delhi said Verma would be sent back to his parent cadre. “The (external affairs) ministry has taken a serious view of the issue, which is causing embarrassment to the country.”
Apparently, Indian officials in the UK refused to waive Mr Verma’s immunity despite Foreign Office requests.
On January 19, the Telegraph reports that the diplomat's recall covers the whole family; that the wife has also been ordered to return with a promise of action under Indian laws:
Paromita Verma is being asked by the external affairs ministry in Delhi to return to India with her diplomat husband, Anil Verma, who is being recalled from London after it was alleged he had assaulted his wife in the course of a domestic dispute.
Whether Paromita chooses to return at this point remains to be seen.
But in a statement, the high commission in London said: “The high commission has been informed that a decision has been taken by the government of India to transfer Mr Anil Verma and his family to India.”
Apart from Anil and Paromita — he is from Bihar, she is Bengali — the family is thought to consist of their five-year-old son, and another son of 19 believed to be from Paromita’s first marriage. It is unclear whether Paromita’s mother came with the Vermas or is attached to her relatives resident in the UK.
“The high commission has been asked to make necessary arrangements for Mr Verma and his family members to return to India at the earliest,” the statement went on.
It added: “The high commission has further sought assistance of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to facilitate their early return.”
[...]
The keys at the Verma marital home in north London had been changed apparently to prevent her from entering the house.
On the same day, a counter claim appears in the Times of India that the diplomat was attacked by the wife first.
The recalled Indian diplomat accused of beating his wife and giving her a bloody nose has claimed that he was attacked by her during a tiff over keeping a Christmas tree in their London home, said a source close to the diplomat.
"There was no fracture, no stitches were required and there was no scar," the source said. This has been corroborated by a medical report with the Indian High Commission.
The source quoted Verma as saying, "I tried to move her away and involuntarily my arm landed on her face. It was not deliberate, it was not premeditated." For the next three weeks, the Vermas lived under the same roof but there was much hostility, the source said. They even discussed and agreed to visit a marriage counsellor.
Read more here:
We do not know the details of this case except for what we've read on the papers, but the reported response is troubling and underscores once more the perilous situation of a diplomatic spouse. It seems notable that the diplomat was recalled for 'causing embarrassment' and "hurting the image of the country" and not for the allegation of domestic violence.
Update @6:25 pm: The Indian High Commission has now released a press statement detailing the sequence of events on the incident involving the diplomat, Anil Verma and his wife. You can read it here via NDTV.
We are bothered to read a comment such as "There was no fracture, no stitches were required and there was no scar."
Well, what's a little blood, right? Excuse us, we need to visit the vomitorium now.
In 2005, a UN report said that around two-third of married women in India were victims of domestic violence and one incident of violence translates into women losing seven working days in the country. Not only that, as many as 70 per cent of married women in India between the age of 15 and 49 are apparently victims of beating, rape or coerced sex, the United Nation Population Fund report. Express India which covered the report helpfully points out that the rate of domestic violence is much higher in Egypt with 94 per cent and Zambia with 91 per cent.
The State Department's 2009 Human Rights Report indicates that domestic violence remains a significant problem in India.
In the United States, more than three women a day on average are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends. According to a study by the USDOJ, women are also much more likely than men to be victimized by a current or former intimate partner. Women are 84 percent of spouse abuse victims and 86 percent of victims of abuse at the hands of a boyfriend or girlfriend and about three-fourths of the persons who commit family violence are male.
Learn more:
National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), 1-800-787-3224 TTY, or
www.ndvh.org
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
www.ncadv.org
Family Violence Prevention Fund
www.endabuse.org
Related items:
- 3 FAM 1810 Family Advocacy Program (Child Abuse, Child Neglect and Domestic Violence)
- Domestic Violence Facts
- CDC: Understanding Intimate Partner Violence
4 comments:
Women are the Nurturers of the Nation. They should be treated with equal respect. Diplomats should not be given immunity for such a crime as heinous as this. I am praying that the authorities see through the counter claim that the husband filed. Such a coward! Own up Mr. and apologize to your wife, children, all women, and furthermore the whole world. That would have been the nobler thing to do instead of taking the predictable way out.
By the way is there some sort of help for diplomatic women and children who are abused when on an assignment.? If in the U.S.A. where do they go to report this? Does the State Department handle domestic abuse?
Big,
Thanks for your comment. If abuse occurs in the US, responsibility falls under M/DGHR and Diplomatic Security, as well as presumably state laws where the incident occurs. Overseas, it looks like the responsibility falls on the Ambassador or the Principal Officer.
The Department of State has a Family Advocacy Program which is to
prevent and effectively respond to suspected abuse, child neglect, and
domestic violence involving Department of State employees and all persons subject to chief of mission authority at posts abroad, including Foreign Service National (FSN) employees and other locally employed staff. See more here:
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/84832.pdf
State Dept employees are also subject to Standards for Appointment and Continued Employment. It does not include "domestic violence" but specifically mentions "spousal abuse" as an example of "Notoriously Disgraceful Conduct." That can get an employee fired. Read more here:
http://diplopundit.blogspot.com/2010/06/ds-agent-arrested-after-wife-reports.html
Wished we had more info on the above case which happened in WA, unfortunately, we don't have a follow-up report on this.
What about international organizations in Washington with the head and deputy of the organizations who have diplomatic immunity, The wives who do they report to if and when they are abused?
Big-
I have sent out inquiries on this one but have not rec'd any response.
Get in touch with the National Domestic Violence Hotline at (800) 799-SAFE to report abuse after the fact.
Be sure to mention that the perpetrator may have diplomatic immunity and request to speak to somebody with experience on that.
Women's Law.org talks about visa laws for crime victims including domestic abuse:
http://www.womenslaw.org/laws_state_type.php?id=10271&state_code=US
More info about "U" visa at the CIS website:
http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1270569897006.shtm
Good luck!
Post a Comment